The object of the invention refers to an arrangement comprising a teat rubber and a milk tube that has a curved section, to a milking cup as well as to a flow element to be used with a teat rubber or a milk tube.
Milking cups are used for the milking of animals, especially of cows, sheep and goats. A milking cup has a sleeve, in which a teat rubber is arranged. The teat rubber is the only machine part in a milking installation that comes into direct contact with the highly sensitive organ, the teat, which can be different from animal to animal. Optimal seating on the teat is required for the correct guidance and massage of the tip of the teat and thus the teat rubber has to be shaped individually for each animal.
A teat rubber is divided into the head region and shaft region. In order to be able to provide sufficient guidance of the teat, the opening in the head region must be only as large as needed, but must never be too small. As a rule, short teats do not penetrate deep enough into the teat rubber. They require a specially shaped teat rubber head. The design of the teat rubber should ensure that the teat penetrates into the region of the shaft and that massage is possible.
Different designs of milking cups are known. For example, milking cups are known which have a two-part teat rubber. Here the teat rubber is arranged within the sleeve. A short milk tube is attached to the teat rubber or to the sleeve. Moreover, it is known that the teat rubber and the short milk tube can be made as one piece. Such designs are also called monoblocks.
The teat rubbers can be made of synthetic rubber, silicone material or other materials which satisfy the requirements of compatibility with the food, the milk. Moreover, the teat rubber must have a certain elasticity in order to insure that the milking process can be performed without any adverse effect on the animal.
From the publications “Top Flow S—The Milking Machine for Sheep Species” and “Top Flow Z—The Milking Machine for all Goat Species” of the company, WestfaliaSurge, it is known that the milk tube can be connected to the teat rubber with a connection piece, whereby the connection piece is arranged essentially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the teat rubber. In this way a compact construction of the milking cup is achieved.
During a milking process the milked milk is transported away. For this purpose, a reduced pressure exists in the milk tube and in the teat rubber. In order to facilitate the removal of the milk, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,931 that the flow path of the milk can be connected to the surrounding atmosphere through a channel. The aeration of the flow path has the advantage that the milked milk can be transported away rapidly, which is of special significance especially at higher milk flows.
From WO-A-01/33947 an arrangement comprising a teat rubber and a milk tube is known, that has a curved section. The arrangement has a flow path for the removal of the milked milk. The flow path is connected to the surrounding atmosphere through a channel, whereby the channel is designed so that the direction of flow of the air flowing through the channel around the flow path of the milk corresponds essentially to the direction of flow of the milk. The channel is formed by a hollow needle which is punched into the milk tube.